Kevin Gaines explores the connection between African-Americans, Pan-Africanism and African Liberation. He uses Ghana as a crossroads because it was the first sub-saharan country to achieve independence (1957). Many African-Americans felt a connection with Ghana and its leader, Kwame Nkruhmah, who espoused a more universal approach to human rights than was prevalent in the United States at the time.

Gaines looks at many African American leaders, such as Richard Wright and W.E.B. du Bois, who went to Ghana and worked there for the Pan-African ideal. The study is interesting because Gaines presents that moment of euphoria when Ghana becomes independent and all things are possible. As Nkrumah becomes more authoritarian, many African-Americans became disillusioned, sometimes switching to support the opposition. Some returned to the U.S. to work for the Civil Rights movement, which had long since withdrawn from international affairs.

Although Gaines suggests that African-Americans in Ghana were disappointed by Nkrumah, he argues that they presaged a later interest in the globalization of human rights ideal that connected African-Americans to other oppressed peoples, regardless of race. This ideal still exists, even if it has been subsumed under the 21st century attempt to curtail terrorism. ( )